Let’s Talk About Cancer-Angelina Jolie Gets Double Mastectomy, When Was The Last Time You Had Complete Physical?

I do not know how many of you woke up to the news of Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy, for me, I was crushed, and stupefied.

Just a few days ago my doctor was telling me how I need to start frequent complete physicals because cancer has been on the rise at an alarming rate among Ghanaian women especially.

And reconstructive surgery can leave you very different even under the most supportive circumstances. But women need to be bold and make early conscious decisions to know their risks and options.

Angelina who has been one of the worlds’ most beautiful women announced having undergone a double mastectomy because doctors found out she carried a cancerous gene.

Made many things run through my mind. Cancer is really no respecter of persons.

Imagine yourself without both your breasts? Would life still be the same? Would you consider yourself still whole, will the definition of beauty take up greater meaning to you?

The actress whose main drive was to stay alive for her children with partner Brad Pitt, says she underwent a series of preventive treatments which included a double mastectomy.

CNN wrote…

(CNN) — Actress Angelina Jolie announced in a New York Times op-ed article on Tuesday that she underwent a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carries a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which sharply increases her risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

“My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman,” Jolie wrote. “Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy.”

Jolie’s mother, actress and producer Marcheline Bertrand, died of ovarian cancer in 2007 at the age of 56. Jolie is 37 years old.

In the Times op-ed, titled “My Medical Choice,” Jolie said she finished three months of medical procedures at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in California on April 27 that included the mastectomies and reconstruction.

A mastectomy is an operation that removes all or part of the breast.

Jolie: ‘I’ve decided to be proactive’

She wrote that her experience involved a three-step process. On February 2, the actress had a procedure that increases the chance that the nipple can be saved. Two weeks later, she had major surgery where the breast tissue was removed and temporary fillers were put in place. Nine weeks later she described undergoing “reconstruction of the breasts with an implant.

“There have been many advances in this procedure in the last few years,” she said, “and the results can be beautiful.”

Why double mastectomies are up

“I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made,” Jolie wrote. “My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent.”

BRCA stands for breast cancer susceptibility genes — a class of genes known as tumor suppressors, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have been linked to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. A blood test can determine if a woman is “highly susceptible” to the cancers.

Fellow actress Christina Applegate had a similar procedure in 2008. She also had a mutation of the BRCA1 gene.

So when was the last time you had a complete physical? Cancer is always best treated with early detection.